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Student’s lawyer seeks assets from Charles Pugh

A federal court judge has allowed an attorney representing a former Detroit Public Schools student who won a $250,000 award against ex-Detroit City Council president Charles Pugh to serve public notice of the debt in New York where Pugh lives.

In an order filed Feb. 4 in federal court, U.S. District Judge David Lawson said that attorneys for the high school graduate known as K.S. can register a judgment in any other district, which would include New York where Pugh is believed to live and likely have assets.

“We are going to aggressively pursue my client’s rights against Mr. Pugh,” said attorney Bill Seikaly, who represents the former student. He declined to comment further Thursday.

Seikaly filed a motion last month that stated Pugh lives in Manhattan and likely has wages “subject to garnishment and property subject to execution there” to satisfy the judgment.

In November, Pugh was convicted of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in a federal civil case brought by the former student. As a result a jury ordered him to pay $250,000 to the victim. A week earlier, Detroit Public Schools had agreed to pay the student $350,000 to settle its portion of the lawsuit.

In December, Lawson ordered Pugh to pay the student after Pugh had argued that he does not have to pay because the school system had already agreed to a settlement with him. Pugh appealed that order last month.

In the civil case filed in June 2014, the plaintiff claimed that Pugh offered him money in exchange for a sex video in 2013 while he was a high school student in Pugh’s mentorship program, the Charles Pugh Leadership Academy, at Detroit Public Schools. The victim also claimed Pugh offered cash for oral sex.